Focus on the teachings, not on the teacher. Your life is your message.

Summary of comments from the live online discussion about the previous podcast episode regarding understanding hatred.

To better understand hatred, we must first be honest about where it resides within each of us. When we fail to do that, we end up hating the hater, yet justifying our hatred as somehow "superior." Since all hate is rooted in segregation, questioning the labels we assign to everything we know and experience is a good place to start. I say Non-Judgment Day is Near, but your participation is required.

Change is natural and inevitable. The cause of our discomfort and suffering isn't change, it's our resistance to it. So the question is, are you open to change, or are you fighting the inevitable and creating your own suffering?

Is it possible that meddling is just another narcotic, a way to escape having to face our own issues, insecurities, and shortcomings, by pointing out somebody else’s? If drama is an addiction, is mindfulness the cure?

The same way we filter-out harmful germs and chemicals from our drinking water, we need to install some sort of filter in our lives to keep out the harmful information that is found in our media. We need to limit how much negativity we are exposed to, and then balance it with some positive energy. Balance is something we create, not find. And by not being part of the pollution, we are automatically part of the solution. 

There is a way to recall our past experiences without triggering any anger, resentment, or even judgment. Do not identify as "broken" or you will actually start believing that you are. The past is in your head. The future is in your hands.

When you feel the impulse to hurt someone (or when someone hurts you), remember we can't soothe our own pain by placing it on someone else. In fact, I think we increase our suffering when we harbor ill-thoughts toward others. 

I used to rely on validation from other people in order to have a sense of self-worth, but that essentially meant I was in a co-dependent relationship with the entire world (think about it). Now my sense of value is up to me living a congruent life, striving to make sure that what I think, say, and do, are all in alignment. Give yourself the gift of true happiness, which isn’t contingent on outside validation, but on the goodness within. Namaste.

Setting the record straight that Buddhism is not a religion, not all Buddhists are vegetarian, we do not worship false idols, and the Buddha was not a God, the son of God, or even a messenger of God.